By Wes Amendt
For the news
Lacoka lacrosse graduate Nick Amendt returned to his roots with several of his teammates from the Sherwood Park Jr. B Tier 1 Titans to put on a development clinic for the current players in the Lacoka Lacrosse Association. Joining Amendt were his assistant coach Nathan Finkbeiner, team captain Thomas Carr and goaltender Tyler Holik. Together the members of the Titans Jr. team put on four one hour clinics for the tyke/novice players and peewee players where they reviewed the basic skills and fundamental techniques needed to play the game of lacrosse. With the older bantam and midget groups, the junior players worked on more advanced offensive and defensive skills. The clinics were well received and enjoyed by the players and current coaches from the Lacoka teams.
Hopefully, the players will be able to use the information presented to help them as they compete in the Central Alberta Lacrosse League playoffs.
“It was nice to see the junior players giving back to the minor players”, said Nick’s father Wes who has been involved with the local lacrosse program since it began in the communities of Ponoka and Lacombe six years ago. “I hope that more of our graduating players will move on to play junior lacrosse and stay involved with the sport after they finish their minor careers”.
Other graduates of the Lacoka program still playing include Dave Westwood and Daniel Jackson of Lacombe who are both in their first year of junior, playing for the Tier II Renegades team from Red Deer. Braden Casper of Ponoka and Mike Sargeant of Lacombe are both in their second year of junior and also play for the Red Deer Renegades Jr. B Tier II team. Nick Amendt played his first year of junior with the Tier II Red Deer team last season before starting this season with the Junior A Edmonton Miners club. He was released in mid-May and signed by the top Tier I Sherwood Park Titans who are currently undefeated in the tough Tier I division with a record of 11-0-1. Nick stated that his team has hopes of representing Alberta at the Founder’s Cup National Jr. B championships in Guelph, Ontario in August.
This season has been another successful season for the Lacoka Locos lacrosse teams. Eighty players took part in our program this season. The Albatross Oilfield Tyke team had a record of 9-2-1 and have come a long way for our youngest group of players. The Line-X Coatings Novice team finished with a record of 1-11 but despite the win/loss record the games were always close and the kids had fun. The Vold, Jones and Vold Pee Wee Locos had an excellent record of 10 wins and two losses and go into the playoffs with a legitimate chance of making the top two in their division and going on to the Provincial tournament in Lethbridge on July 11 to 13. The Kal-Tire Bantams (5-5-2) and the Cedar Craig Midgets (5-7) also have a very good chance to make it to provincials if they can pull it all together in the very competitive CALL playoffs.